November 7th 2012 6:00 am PT

Starting today, fans who pre-order “Gears of War: Judgment” at participating retailers will receive an exclusive in-game multiplayer weapon at launch, the Classic Hammerburst, along with potential retailer-specific content.

The Classic Hammerburst was the standard-issue assault rifle of the Locust Army during their E-Day onslaught. Highly accurate with a six-round burst, the Classic Hammerburst helped give the Locust a decisive advantage.

Additional incentives will be available from participating retailers in the coming weeks, including exclusive multiplayer character skins Young Marcus, Young Dom, Anya and Alex Brand. Please visit Xbox.com and your favorite game retailer’s site for more information, and stay tuned in the coming months for more news on “Gears of War: Judgment.”

Why do they even bother putting other weapons in the game when the shot gun ALLAYS gets used… take a lesson from halo. Make guns useful

http://twitter.com/AutoMATTikk Matty Tournado.

umad bro?

Russell Gorall

The Internet.

Riddick Snipes

Goddamn it stop saying that.

http://www.gearscon.com Chance Burnett

Other guns ARE useful. If you can’t play Gears 3 without pulling out a Gnasher you just don’t know what you’re doing. Trust me, I do it to troll and prove the point all the time.

http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller

Still, he has a point. Gears has and always will be, a shotgun-fest.

http://www.gearscon.com Chance Burnett

Because that’s what the fans make of it. The Gnasher could be the least effective weapon and players would still use it.

http://twitter.com/LambentHammerB ❖Greg-Boddy❖

Exactly correct. It’s how people choose to play the game. The Gnasher is easily outgunned by all the rifles. Been in various matches where using the Gnasher was useless due to heavy rifle use. People CHOOSE to play CQC when they could instead use their rifles and kill them long before they get close.

Russell Gorall

This is all very exciting to me.

http://twitter.com/Mikeydct Michael J. Davis

Hammerburst is the weakest weapon why make it a pre order?

QuixoticRocket

Because a pre-order bonus shouldn’t unbalance the game?

http://twitter.com/LambentHammerB ❖Greg-Boddy❖

Someone hasn’t played Gears of War 1 if they think the Hammerburst (Classic) is weak.

Like MS Studios publishing Mark of the Ninja? or full house poker? or wreckateer? or orcs must die? or some of the many games they publish?

Of course they’re going to keep the big boys rolling, but they also publish loads of other games. I for one like both the big titles and the smaller new games.

http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller

Orcs must die is on Steam,along with Mark of the ninja. Wreckateer is for the Kinect. so that just leaves FHP. What a game that is aswell… poker… with avatars. Genious.
Are you trying to get at something here? Try harder.

QuixoticRocket

Steam is a Distributor. Microsoft is a Publisher. Go learn the difference before trying to sound like you have an IQ.
Steam sells those games but Microsoft paid for their development.

Rickard Olsson

Yeah! The pre-order bonus circus really needs to GTFO. If not totally, then at least as long as different retailers get different deals.

QuixoticRocket

I don’t mind preorder bonuses (they’re basically some free mini-dlc that other people can buy later) as long as their just skins / models / early unlocks.
But I hate the whole get X from X store and Y from Y store. I’m already doing you a favour by preordering. Stop making me preorder from shops I’d rather not use simply because they get the better bundle.

QuixoticRocket

They’re exclusives in the same way that Skyrim was exclusive to xbox.
The real deal with preordering isn’t getting the dlc as an exlcusive, it’s getting it free when others will have to pay for it later.
Plus a few bragging rights for the first few weeks after release if that’s your thing.
They’re not false-exclusives, they’re timed-exclusives.

http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller

It should be on the damn disc already. You shouldn’t have to pre-order to get something that’s on the skimpy disc. Getting real tired of people thinking they’re getting something ‘for free’ when it’s already on their mother effing disc. I’m going to go out on a whim and say you bought GoW3 skins. If so, congrats, you’re what’s making more publishers milk their consumer base.

QuixoticRocket

Ooh. Ad hominem attacks. Great way to prove you’re thinking logically.
Also: if you don’t like them don’t buy them. If someone else wants to buy things then let them.

If the content is too skimpy to be considered a full purchase then there will be a fan backlash and the game will tank. If there’s enough content then there’s no grounds to complain. How about waiting for the game to release before crying about how bad it is?